Get your filthy hands off me (ie freedom of religion)

I've said I consider freedom of religion to be a very important right, more important even than free speech. The reason is without freedom of conscience, to believe what you want for whatever reason, there is no freedom for anything else.

However, many people misconstrue both freedom of religion and the First Amendment, usually in ways that are oppressive or highly detrimental to others.

To begin with, freedom of religion does also mean freedom from religion. That is to say, no one has any right to impose any religion on anyone else. This doesn't matter only to atheists or agnostics, but to everyone. Let's say a law is passed forbidding any work on Sundays. Perhaps observant Christians wouldn't object to it, but non-observant Christians would. Muslims and Jews, whose "holy" weekdays are different, would resent this as well. In many Western countries the problem arises when Christians interpret "freedom of religion" with "freedom of Christianity."

The First Amendment clearly bars the Federal government from establishing a religion. this seems incredibly outdated, like something out of the dark ages, but it was very relevant at the time. Read up on the French Revolution to see first hand some of the complications from an established church. It's true the states could establish a religion, but 1) very few did, 2) some which did established not one true denomination but several, 3) in the course of jurisprudence this has ended in any case.

Did I not say the idea seems incredibly outdated? Even so, established religions still exist, though with vastly less power than they once enjoyed, particularly in the West.

Lately we've been hearing a lot about "religious freedom." Partly this is a thinly veiled attempt at cloaking bigotry in religious respectability, partly a back-door means of sneaking in religion past the First Amendment.

I do not favor antidiscrimination laws, with one exception: government. At any level, at every time, in every case, government should be 100% absolutely and completely forbidden from discriminating against any citizen for any reason.

Since the Supreme Court decision in marriage equality, a bunch of county clerks and judges have refused to grant marriage licenses to same sex couples, alleging religious reasons. This is completely unacceptable. Granted perhaps when they took the job this wasn't an issue, and granted they may have thought the court would rule differently, but it is an issue now and it's the law. I can see three alternatives: 1) these people could resign, as they're no longer able to fulfill their jobs, 2) the local or state governments could offer an easy alternative for obtaining marriage licenses (and, no, going to the next county is not an easy alternative), 3) these people could get fired.

But this is and ought to remain a minor blip in the landscape, and pose no great hardship on anyone. Except if it's taken as an opportunity to exclude application and enforcement of the law for some people claiming religion as justification.

Remember we're talking about religion in general, not Christianity in particular. all religions carry their set of strictures which can cause objection to performing part of a government job. Maybe a Muslim country clerk or other kind of official would refuse to grant any liquor licenses. A Jewish one may refuse to grant anything to a restaurant serving pork. A Catholic one might refuse to accept divorce papers.

This is a start, but it should give you an idea. It can progress from there on. Criminal sentences are still largely left to a judge's discretion. Some guidelines for them are very broad. Any judge acting from "religious freedom" could impose something truly draconian for a minor offense because his religion demands it, or give a slap on the wrist for a serious offense for the same reason.

In the West civil law has come to the point that a religious justification for jurisprudence is no longer acceptable. Tis is a positive development for all and it should stay that way.

I support everyone's right to believe whatever they please and to practice any religion they want. Just keep your filthy hands off me.